Volume VI - The Alchemy of Happiness

The Struggle of Life (1)

No one can deny the fact that life in the world is one
continual struggle. The one who does not know the struggle
of life is either an immature soul, or a soul who has risen
above the life of this world. The object of a human being
in this world is to attain to the perfection of humanity,
and therefore it is necessary that man should go through
what we call the struggle of life.

As long as an infant is innocent he is happy; he knows
nothing of the struggle of life. The late Nizam of Hyderabad,
who was also a great mystic, wrote, 'What were those days,
when my eyes had not seen sorrow! My heart had no desire
and life had no misery.' This is the first stage. From thence
we come to the maturity of the intelligence, and then we
see that no one can be trusted, neither the friend nor the
relation. None can stand the test when it comes, all are
false and none is true; and at first a person believes that
this is directed specially against him. A dervish once wrote
these lines on the wall of the mosque where he had spent
the night, 'The world believes in the ideal of God, yet
knows not whether He is friend or foe.'

The waves of the sea go up and down; the atom believes
that they rise and fall for it; it thinks, 'The wave raises
me, so it is favorable to me', or, 'it lowers me, so it
is unfavorable'. In the same way man thinks a friend is
favorable or unfavorable to him; but then he realizes that
this is the nature of the world. In all of us there is the
Nafs, the ego, and every ego fights against the others.
There is a sword in every hand, both in that of the friend
and in that of the enemy. The friend kisses before he strikes;
there is no other difference. And then he realizes that
nothing else can be expected of the world.

The great Indian poet Tulsidas has said, 'Everyone does
and says as much as he has understood.' Why should a man
blame another for what he cannot understand? If he has no
more understanding, from whence can the poor man borrow
it? Then a person begins to realize that whatever comes
he should take it calmly. If an insult comes he takes it
calmly; if a good word comes he accepts it with thanks;
if a bad word comes he takes that quietly. If it is a bad
word he is only thankful that it is not a blow; if it is
a blow he is thankful that it is not worse. He is ready
to give his time and his services to all; to the deserving
and the undeserving alike, for he sees in all the manifestation
of God. He sees God in every form, in the highest, in the
lowest, in the most beautiful, in the most worthless.

The Sufi says that if God is separate from the universe,
he would rather worship a God who can be seen, who can be
heard, who can be tasted, who can be felt by the heart and
perceived by the soul. He worships the God who is before
him. He sees the God who is in everything.

Christ said, 'I and the Father are one'. That does not
mean that Christ laid claim to Godhood for His own person.
It is what the dervishes call 'hamin ost', which means all
is He and He is all. There is not an atom in the universe
that He is not. We must recognize Him, we must respect Him
in every face, even in the face of our enemy, of the most
worthless. Knowing that all is God by reading a few books
on philosophy is not enough; our pity and our spirituality
are valueless if we do only this. To read a religious book
and feel pious is not enough. To go to some religious place
and be pleased that we are religious is not enough. To give
to charity and be conceited, believing that we have done
something great, is not enough. We must give our services
and our time to the deserving and undeserving alike, and
we must be thankful to God that He has enabled us to give.

For this is the only opportunity we have of giving. This
life is short, and we shall never have the same opportunity
to give, to serve, to do something for others. In the Sermon
on the Mount it is said, 'Whosoever shall smite thee on
thy right cheek, turn to him the other also'. Someone may
say or think that he should hit back; but a Sufi would not
hit back. Why? Because he does not want twenty blows instead
of one.

It is said that if a man asks you for your coat, you
should give him your cloak also. Why? Because neither the
cloak nor the coat are yours. If someone thinks, 'This is
mine, I should keep it, I should guard it', he will always
be watching his goods. If they are yours, whose were they
before? Whose will they be after you? Someone will take
them after you, and all that you value so much will be in
the hands of others.

Then it is said that if someone asks you to go with him
one mile, you should go with him two miles. That means,
if someone makes use of our services, let us not think,
'Why should I, such an important person, serve another,
give my time to another?' Let us give our services more
liberally than we are asked to do. Let us give service,'
give our time; but when the time for receiving comes, do
not let us expect to receive anything. Let us not expect
our friend to be as we are to him; that will never be possible.
We must then practice renunciation.

We must practice virtue because we like it; do good because
we like to do it and not for any return; expect no kindness
or appreciation; if we do, it will become a trade. This
is the right way for the world in general, and the only
way of becoming happy. Its moral is called the moral of
renunciation.

There are two different attitudes that people adopt while
going through this struggle of life. One struggles along
bravely through life; the other becomes disappointed, heart-broken,
before arriving at his destination. As soon as a man loses
the courage to go through the struggle of life, the burden
of the whole world falls upon his head. But he who goes
on struggling through life, he alone makes his way. The
one whose patience is exhausted, the one who has fallen
in this struggle, is trodden upon by those who walk through
life. Even bravery and courage are not sufficient to go
through the struggle of life; there is something else which
must be studied and understood.

One must study the nature of life, one must understand
the psychology of this struggle. In order to understand
this struggle one must see that there are three sides to
it: struggle with oneself, struggle with others, and struggle
with circumstances. One person may be capable of struggling
with himself, but that is not sufficient. Another is able
to struggle with others, but even that is not sufficient.
A third person may answer the demands of circumstance, but
this is not enough either; what is needed is that all three
should be studied and learnt, and one must be able to manage
the struggle in all three directions.

And now the question is: where should one begin and where
should one end? Generally one starts by struggling with
others, and then one struggles all through life, and never
finishes. The one who is somewhat wiser struggles with conditions,
and perhaps he accomplishes things a little better. But
the one who struggles with himself first is the wisest,
for once he has struggled with himself, which is the most
difficult struggle, the other struggles will become easy
for him. Struggling with oneself is like singing without
an accompaniment. Struggling with others is the definition
of war, struggling with oneself is the definition of peace.
In the beginning, outwardly, it might seem that it is cruel
to have to struggle with oneself, especially when one is
in the right. But the one who has penetrated deeper into
life will find that the struggle with oneself is the most
profitable in the end.

What is the nature of the struggle with oneself? It has
three aspects. The first is to make one's thought, speech,
and action answer the demands of one's own ideal, while
at the same time giving expression to all the impulses and
desires which belong to one's natural being. The next aspect
of the struggle with oneself is to fit in with others, with
their various ideas and demands. For this a man has to make
himself as narrow or as wide as the place that one asks
him to fill, which is a delicate matter, difficult for all
to comprehend and to practice. And the third aspect of the
struggle with oneself is to give accommodation to others
in one's own life, in one's own heart, large or small as
the demand may be.

When we consider the question of the struggle with others
there are also three things to think about, of which the
first is to control and govern people and activities which
happen to be our duty, our responsibility. Another aspect
is how to allow ourselves to be used by others in various
situations in life; to know to what extent one should allow
others to make use of our time, our energy, our work, or
our patience, and where to draw the line. And the third
aspect is to fit in with the standards and conceptions of
different personalities who are at various stages of evolution.

Regarding the third aspect of this struggle, there are
conditions which can be avoided, and there are conditions
which cannot be helped, before which one is helpless. And
again there are conditions that could be avoided, and yet
one does not find in oneself the capability, the power,
or the means to change the condition. If one studies these
questions of life, and meditates in order that inspiration
and light may fall on them, so that one may understand how
to struggle through life, one certainly will find help and
arrive at a stage where one finds life easier.

The Sufi looks upon the struggle as unavoidable, as a
struggle through which he has to go. He sees from his mystical
point of view that the more he takes notice of the struggle
the more the struggle will expand; and the less he makes
of it the better he will be able to pass through it. When
he looks at the world what does he see? He sees everybody
with his hands before his eyes, looking only at his own
struggles which are as big as his own palm. He thinks, 'Shall
I also sit down like this, and look at my struggles? That
will not answer the question.' His work therefore is to
engage in the struggle of others, to console them, to strengthen
them, to give them a hand; and through that his own struggle
dissolves and this makes him free to go forward.

How does the Sufi struggle? He struggles with power,
with understanding, with open eyes, and with patience. He
does not look at the loss; what is lost is lost. He does
not think of the pain of yesterday; yesterday is gone for
him. Only if a memory is pleasant does he keep it before
him, for it is helpful on his way. He takes both the admiration
and the hatred coming from around him with smiles; he believes
that both these things form a rhythm within the rhythm of
a certain music; there is one and two, the strong accent
and the weak accent. Praise cannot be without blame, nor
can blame be without praise. He keeps the torch of wisdom
before him, because he believes that the present is the
echo of the past, and that the future will be the reflection
of the present. It is not sufficient to think only of the
present moment; one should also think where it comes from
and where it goes. Every thought that comes to his mind,
every impulse, every word he speaks, is to him like a seed,
a seed which falls in this soil of life, and takes root.
And in this way he finds that nothing is lost; every good
deed, every little act of kindness, of love, done to anybody,
will some day rise as a plant and bear fruit.

The Sufi does not consider life as different from business,
but he sees how real business can be achieved in the best
manner. The symbol of the mystics of China was a branch
laden with fruit in their hand. What does it mean? It means
that the purpose of life is to arrive at that stage where
every moment becomes fruitful. And what does fruitful mean?
Does it mean fruits for oneself? No, trees do not bear fruit
for themselves, but for others. True profit is not that
profit which one makes for oneself. True profit is that
which one makes for others. After attaining all that one
wants to attain, be it earthly or heavenly, what is the
result of it all? The result is only this, that all that
one has attained, that one has acquired, whether earthly
or heavenly, one can place before others. Propkar, which
in the language of the Vedanta means working for the benefit
of others, is the only fruit of life.